A Warning to Voters on PEJUANG at the Polling Booth

There is no other phrase that can embody Mahathir than, “Holier than thou” aptly. He is the epitome of a conventional senior statesman who “knows it all”. At the same time, ironically Mahathir is a loose cannon – firing away ammunition against his political opponents whatever at his disposal, or the sentiment of the public when the situation deems fit.

Even as the country is collectively puzzled over how the country will look like in a post GE15 environment, some “deposed” Ministers still found the time to find a way to snake himself back into a position of power. Take for example, the “surprise” announcement from Mahathir that he would be willing to take up the mantle of Prime Minister once again - much to the chagrin of both the public and political agents alike.

PEJUANG should realise by now that he does not operate by himself. He will always circle himself with an elite group of loyalists; and so long that they can provide him with control of the political and corporate sphere – they will stay rewarded. We have heard of the likes of billionaire Daim Zainuddin, for example, who himself had served twice Mahathir’s minister in-charge of the country’s finances.

But of course, this is ultimately the reason why Mahathir always finds himself surrounded by a clamoring group of schemers and sycophants.

In order to sustain Mahathir’s political longevity, it was also necessary for UMNO, one which he was sacked from or left more than once, to embed such an ecosystem within the live blood of the party. Be it through UMNO’s treasury, UMNO-linked holding companies, or individual proxies, the party puppeteers Malaysian corporate scene to be in line with the demands of nationalist leaders, such as Mahathir himself.

One of the more renowned holding companies was MRCB. Through its vast network of subsidiaries, MRCB was often used as a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to acquire corporate assets on behalf of UMNO. According to a statement by Anwar Ibrahim in November 1999, a company named “Real Mild” had significant shareholdings in MRCB. It was said that while the 30% of the shares were jointly held by Dato Kadir Jasin, Dato Nazli Abdullah, Dato Khalid Ahmad and Mohd Nor Talib, the remaining 70% of the Real Mild was held by Mahathir himself.

It was through such structure that allowed Mahathir and Daim to further spread their influence in their political narrative. For example, Dato Kadir Jasin was a proxy to manage the New Straits Times Group, which then included a mainstream TV channel, TV3. Meanwhile, Dato Murad had also claimed that MRCB was given the approval to privatise Lumut Independent Power Plan. Interestingly, the authority responsible to approve the project was the Economic Planning Unit, which at that time was under the Prime Minister’s Office (whereby Mahathir himself was the Prime Minister.

There is little doubt that Mahathir, with his experience and hard-headed personality, can be a valuable member in helping the country move forward from the political quagmire that we now find ourselves in. It is appealing to think that, for all his flaws, we can handle another round of Mahathirism.

But are we prepared for what may come after? As time and time has shown – only Mahathir can remove himself from power. Who else was the one that opened the way to our political quagmire as he did.

Then the question remains, is PEJUANG and the rakyat prepared to see what outcomes await us if we give him another chance.